Assassin’s Creed Mirage: A Return to the Roots Showcases The Mechanics Fans Want
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage has received a developer diary of sorts, with the episode focusing on the series return to its roots.
We’ll learn more about Basim’s origins next week at Ubisoft Forward. Still, today, we’re seeing an intimate look at how the team at the Bordeaux studio has stripped back the bloated RPG elements in lieu of something tighter, favourable, and familiar to longtime fans of the series.
“Coming off Valhalla, we started to explore the idea of introducing a new playable hero, Basim, and creating an experience that is a love letter to the origins of the franchise, a coming-of-age story with familiar mechanics to bring the feel of the early games into the modern day.
“We are returning to the Middle East, in ninth-century Baghdad. Set 300 years before the time of Altair,
wee are telling the story of Basim and how he became a Master Assassin. We looked at the first Assassin’s Creed games and started to wonder, what exactly defines the Assassin experience to us? And from there we put all our effort into bringing our take on the Assassin fantasy,” says Stéphane Boudon , Creative Director at Ubisoft Bordeaux.
“As a Hidden One, parkour is a key pillar to the experience. With Baghdad as your playground, we are bringing the action back to urban environment. For parkour, we looked to our previous games for inspiration and chose to put the emphasis on comfort and fluidity. In Mirage, parkour is easy to learn and to master. Our approach is closer to the Ezio games, where it’s all about keeping the flow and momentum going, with the design centered around verticality.”
“Many elements from past games are making a return. We have the corner swing, the ability to vault over objects, elevators to quickly reach high ground, with also new ingredients such as the pole vault, allowing you to cross large gaps between two rooftops. Of course, Basim is faster and more agile than Eivor was. And to give that feeling, we worked out animations to reinforce the sense of speed when jumping, vaulting, and free roaming. Streets are narrower, denser, and packed with obstacles to navigate. By choosing the right path through the environment,
you can move from street level to the rooftops in the blink of an eye, a useful skill for any Assassin.”
A a nod to the original Assassin’s Creed, a desaturated blue-gray color palette will be added to Mirage.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage launches on October 12, 2023. We’ll have more coverage next week during Ubisoft Forward.
